Hard Job Hunt, $40-$70 K, for '07 Grads

Competition for graduates of the nation’s biggest and best-known law schools has driven starting salaries at some major firms well over $150,000 and prompted whispers of a once-unthinkable $200,000 at some point in the foreseeable future. But legal job-market reality is much different for the vast majority of those with newly minted juris doctor degrees.

Starting salaries for new graduates of Northeastern University School of Law probably range from about $40,000 to $70,000 if they don’t work for big firms, according to Randi Friedman, director of career services. And she says 2007 graduates of the Boston institution might be well-advised to look for work in the Midwest because of the large number of new graduates produced each year in the law-school-dense Northeast, reports Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly (sub. req.).

While the legal current job market is stronger than it was in 2001 following the dot-crash, “I think there are always more new lawyers than there are opportunities,” Friedman says. “I think the larger firms are definitely hiring more people than they were a few years ago, but don’t think there’s as much of an expansion in other parts of the job market.”